Holiday Decorating I Chalkboard Placemats and Runner

December 22, 2016byDana

My very favorite decorating idea for holidays comes from inspiration around the web. Here’s why you will love it: it’s simple, take chalk cloth and turn it into place mats and table runners. Not only is it adorable for entertaining, it is a perfect option for every day, making it a great gift too. The cloth easily wipes clean, and can be used over and over again. Customize your place settings to suit your guests, or let your kids go wild, drawing the decor. It’s also great for buffets or cheese pairings. Just circle where your item will go and write a custom label to go with it. Have a pairing? Use and arrow and draw a map of what is tasty together!

See what I mean? An endless supply of ideas, and here is the best part, all it requires are some scissors! And well, chalk after to start drawing. Ready?! Let’s get started…

MATERIALS

CUT

To create the runner, decide how wide you want your runner? As you see in our inspiration photos, you can either cover the entire width of the table like a table cloth or you can make a narrow runner. If you feel like getting crazy, you can also create specialty shapes. We cut our chalkcloth down to 30″ wide but it’s totally up to you!

Now on to the placemats. You will be cutting your chalkcloth into 12″ x 18″ rectangles. Since the chalkcloth is 47″ wide, you can get 3 placemats using the width. To make this extra speedy, cut three 12″ wide columns so you have three 12″ x 36″ columns. Now cut your columns in half to create two 12″ x 36″ placemats.

We are almost finished, now we just need to cure the chalkcloth. To cure chalkcloth, take a piece of chalk and rub surface of the fabric from side to side and then top to bottom. Now it is ready to use.

DECORATE

You have reached the most fun part! It’s time to decorate! I put together a bunch of photo inspiration for you but we are sure you will find an awesome design to suit your house.

If you are giving your set as a gift, roll them up and tie them with a pretty string and they are ready to go! Enjoy!